During the19th and 20th centuries, a powerhouse of black American leaders emerged, consisting primarily of men and women with “an apparent mix of Caucasoid features”. The face of the African warrior, brought to America centuries prior from the Ivory Coast had changed, due to perpetual miscegenation and the application of the One Drop Rule.

The One Drop Rule was a determinant marker exclusive to the United States by which racial identity was defined, and a person was considered black if he or she had any African ancestry. No other country in the world has historically defined race in the same manner. This unique rule has been embraced by whites and blacks alike, both socially and legally, since slavery. Nevertheless, it was this “rule”, as well as its strict enforcement, which created a dynamic leadership pool of educated Light, Bright and Damn Near White revolutionaries, who were embraced by the black community as some of its most vocal and active leaders.

Featured in this book are the lives of black heroes and heroines, who could only have been defined as such through the lens of the historical One Drop Rule. Some born slaves and some born free, these men and women were on the forefront of civil rights, innovation, and social reform. Their personal contributions are woven within the very fabric of American culture and policy.

Even today, the broad acceptance of this racial marker is matter-of-factly embraced. When Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th President of the United States, he was herald as this nation’s first black president, and not the first bi-racial president, despite his mother’s race (white).

This informative book is about history. . . American History and African-American History.